Protest
to Prime Minister at the absence of Ministers in Parliament to give proper
and satisfactory answers on national issues of public importance

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Media Conferenceby Lim Kit Siang
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(Parliament,
Wednesday) :I
have written to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to
protest at the absence of Ministers in Parliament to give proper and
satisfactory answers on national issues of public importance.

I gave two instances of what
happened in Parliament yesterday. The first concerned the long-drawn-out
controversy over government statistics and data about bumiputra equity stake
with three conflicting figures given on bumiputera equity ownership at Bursa
Saham; (i) 36.6% as stated by Deputy Finance Minister, Datuk Dr. Awang Adek
in Parliament on 7th November 2006; (ii) 21.8% by Minister in the
Prime Minister’s Department, Senator Datuk Seri Effendi Norwawi in a
statement outside Parliament just before the start of Umno general
assemblies on November 13, 2006; and (iii) 33.7% in 1997, according to the
University of Malaya research study entitled “Bumiputeras in the Corporate
Sector – Three decades of performance 1970-2000”, by Dr. M. Fazilah Abdul
Samad in 2002.

Effendi should be in Parliament
to give full and satisfactory explanation for such conflicting figures,
including honouring the Prime Minister’s public undertaking to make public
all the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) methodology and data to restore public
trust and confidence in official statistics and data instead of leaving it
to the Deputy Minister Senator Datuk Abdul Rahman Suliman who only added
confusion to the brew.

The second instance was the
absence of the Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu during the
winding-up of the debate on the 2007 Budget estimates for the Works
Ministry, as the Parliamentary Secretary, Datuk Yoong Khoon Seng admitted
that he was in no position to give any answer on the following issues which
I had raised:

RM400 million
new Istana Negara in Jalan Duta – (i) whether this was a departure from
the administration policy not to build prestigious projects; (ii) why no
tender was called; (iii) why was the project awarded to Maya Maju Sdn.
Bhd and what is its background and track record and (iv) why the 2007
Budget had estimated the cost of the new Istana Negara as RM500 million.

Whether it is
cheaper to build rather than to cancel the RM1.1 billion crooked
half-bridge in Johore in view of the RM360 million compensation claim
by the contractor Gerbang Perdana Sdn. Bhd., for the cancellation costs
totaled RM1.28 billion with the following items: (i) RM 360 million
compensation claim by Gerbang Perdana; (ii)
RM470 million instead of the RM250 million eight-lane elevated highway
from the new CIQ to the Causeway because of related works such as
connecting roads and amenities; (iii)RM170
million which had already been spent on the crooked half-bridge before
it was cancelled; and (iv) RM380 million demand for land premium by
the Johore State Government. Also why the eight-lane 800 metre-long
elevated highway is so expensive as to cost RM280 million when the
average cost of quality eight-lane elevated highways meeting
international standards is between RM75 million to RM80 million?

Result of
action taken by government to claim compensation for the RM287 million
MATRADE scandal, involving an eight-year delay and an inflated cost of
over RM120 million from its original cost of RM167 million.

Outcome of
actions taken on abuses of public funds and leakages in the allocations
for repairs of schools, with RM3,000 value of work delivered in a
RM30,000 allocation in the case of the Chinese primary school in Muar.

The question of a Cabinet
reshuffle is again in the news. After the great disappointment of a
jumbo-sized Cabinet despite the unprecedented landslide victory in the March
2004 general election, with events in the past three years confirming the
critique of the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad that it is
“a half-past six Cabinet”, Malaysians do not have high expectations that a
Cabinet reshuffle will usher in any real change or reform.

Cabinet reshuffle or otherwise,
the Prime Minister should ensure that his Ministers must be responsible
enough to attend Parliament to answer questions and reply to debates to meet
the most elementary requirements of accountability and not to pass the buck
to deputy ministers and parliamentary secretaries whose stock answers are
to promise to give written answers subsequently.